The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1908. OUR NEGLECTED-PORT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 400, 20 June 1908, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1908. OUR NEGLECTED-PORT.

Time and again we have repressed information in reference to steamers getting stuck in the river and on the bar, for the reason that such news would drive our shipping elsewhere, and create a feeling of uneasiness among owners and shippers. Perhaps we have adopted a wrong policy, seeing that silence has not moved the Railway Department to spend a shilling on the improvement of the channel and bar. The Railway Department can say that the river channel and bar is no concern of theirs : that they cannot trespass .on the Marine Department’s domain, and that their responsibility ends at the wharf. It is scandalous, however, that the Railway Department should be allowed to scoop up the wharfage revenue, which it has done for years past, to the tune of thousands upon thousands of pounds, and divert the money to swell the revenue of the working railways, and it is time this iniquitous state of things was ended. Until the wharf and river are placed under the control of a properly constituted Harbour Board, things must remain as they are. The remarks of Sir Joseph Ward at Palmerston recently, about the necessity lor a rating area in so much bunkum. The port and fairway can be efficiently maintained, and shipping encouraged and facilitated if the present system of misappropriation by the Railway Department is abolished. No rating is required. To give our readers an idea of the state of the bar, we may mention that on Monday the Himataugi went aground, but was later washed in ;

on Tuesday the Gertie bumped on the bur, and stripped a propeller blade, but floated off again the following tide ; the , Kiennedy bumped badly on the bar on Wednesday morning, and stuck for a time; the Charles Edward, with a light load, also got on the bar, but managed to float off on the seaward side, and was ordered to another port. The above boats were coal laden. This week’s mishaps are only ordinary occurrences, and its just about time the Government put an end to the existing scandalous state ol affairs, by handing over the wharfage as set out in the proposed Bill for the purpose of improving the port.